Hutton still estimates $8 million in potential losses.

Scott Pierce, president of the brokerage house, said the firm “has no reason” to change its estimate of potential liabilities to banks injured by E. F. Hutton’s illegal banking activities. A Justice Department prosecutor said that Hutton may be forced to repay as much as $50 million to banks that lost money in the fraud scheme, which resembled check-kiting. The prosecutor, Robert Ogren of the department’s white-collar crime unit, said that Hutton’s scheme to get bank funds without paying interest involved $10 billion in checks rather than the $4 billion cited in the agency’s charges last Thursday.